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- Title
Bankrupt Rivers.
- Authors
Larson, Rhett; Kennedy, Kelly
- Abstract
Bankruptcy proceedings and water rights adjudications, perhaps surprisingly, share similar characteristics: there is a pool of resources to which multiple parties have legal claims, there are more claims to the pool than there are available resources, and the priority of those claims are sorted according to the date the claim was originally made. General stream adjudications involve state courts adjudicating the relative priorities and apportionment of all water rights claimants over a river basin, including the rights of Native American tribes, cities and towns, mines, industries, utilities, and farms. These adjudications often involve tens of thousands of parties, cost hundreds of millions of dollars, and last for decades. As the western United States copes with continuing drought conditions, the uncertainty and acrimony of general stream adjudications present a major obstacle to water resource management and drought resilience. This Article first describes the obstacles that make general stream adjudications the protracted and contentious affairs they are. It then relies on the economic theories underlying bankruptcy law to propose reforms to facilitate equitable and efficient resolution of general stream adjudications. These reforms include: (1) lowering transaction costs through more efficient dispute resolution; (2) avoiding hold-outs by implementing improved water resource management; and (3) increasing available water for claimants and the environment through water markets.
- Subjects
UNITED States; BANKRUPTCY; WATER rights; CRIMINAL procedure; WATER supply management; LAW reform
- Publication
U.C. Davis Law Review, 2016, Vol 49, Issue 4, p1335
- ISSN
0197-4564
- Publication type
Article